The 2022-23 easyCredit BBL season tips off on Wednesday September 28 and the biggest question is if ALBA BERLIN can complete a four-peat or will FC Bayern Munich finally get back atop the league for the first time since 2019. Or will any other team surprise one of the big two teams. Here is a breakdown of all 18 clubs and where they stand going into the season.
In this section, we break out our English language skills and inform you about the latest news from the German easyCredit Basketball Bundesliga. If you’re short on time but still want your fill of Germany’s top basketball league then you are in the right place. Every week David Hein (www.heinnews.com) brings you up-to-date in German basketball – the easyCredit BBL short and sweet:
ALBA running it back, shoot for four-peat
ALBA BERLIN will enter the 2022-23 season as one of the top favorites for the title as they are running it back with nearly the entire roster returning. After years of losing a number of players, Berlin managed to retain 13 of their rotation players from last season, losing only Oscar da Silva to FC Barcelona while adding New Zealand big man Yanni Wetzell and 20-year-old Italian talent Gabriele Procida. Israel Gonzalez and his men will be shooting for a fourth straight title which has happened just four times in league history - USC Heidelberg 1956-1962 (6 titles), Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1989-1996 (7), ALBA (1996-2003) and Brose Bamberg 2009-2014. Berlin might struggle to start the season as all three of their point guards missed nearly all of training camp due to playing at the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 - Maodo Lo (Germany), Jaleen Smith (Croatia) and Tamir Blatt (Israel) - while German big man Johannes Thiemann and Israeli wing Yovel Zoosman also were at EuroBasket. But Berlin will definitely be in the fight at the end of the season.
Bayern hoping stronger German core can end drought
FC Bayern Munich have not won the easyCredit BBL since 2019 and one of the biggest changes management made for this season is strengthening the German core of the team. Long-time German passport players Nihad Djedovic and Leon Radosevic are gone and GM Marko Pesic brought Isaac Bonga back to Germany from the NBA and Elias Harris back from Japan. They also added Jan Niklas Wimberg to team with Andi Obst, Jason George, Paul Zipser and now Nick Weiler-Babb, who helped Germany to third place at the FIBA EuroBasket 2022. Much of the other core is back - Vladimir Lucic, Augustine Rubit, Othello Hunter, Zan Mark Sisko, Ognjen Jaramaz and Corey Walden. Pesic also added European rookies Cassius Winston and Freddie Gillespie. Expect head coach Andrea Trinchieri to play a bit more up-tempo this season with a younger and more athletic squad. The goal is clearly to dethrone ALBA BERLIN.
Can Shorts fill PJC role and help Bonn take next step up?
Telekom Baskets Bonn thrilled their fans last season with new head coach Tuomas Iisalo using an exciting style of play to guide the team to the playoffs after two years watching from home. Only FC Bayern Munich stopped Bonn in the Semi-Finals with a 3-2 series win. But success led to a number of departures, including league MVP Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Javontae Hawkins. Iisalo managed to bring in equally thrilling point guard TJ Shorts, who was in the running for MVP before getting injured last season with HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim. Bonn also brought in Sebastian Herrera for another strong German in the rotation with Karsten Tadda, Michael Kessens and Leon Kratzer. And New Zealand international Finn Delany was added to the retuning forwards Tyson Ward and Jeremy Morgan. Just like last season was the PJC show, this season Bonn will rely heavily on Shorts.
Ludwigsburg look to King in post-JP era
John Patrick was the face of MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg, helping the club to two Basketball Champions League Final Fours, one German finals appearance and eight playoff appearances in nine years. Coach Patrick is now in Japan though and Josh King is running the show in Ludwigsburg - with a major roster overhaul. King will still be playing a similar style of basketball and one major returnee is the defensive ace Yorman Polas Bartolo. Also back is Jonathan Bähre, who will be needed to blossom because the team’s other German spots are filled by Eddy Edigin and young talents Johannes and Jacob Patrick and Nico Santana Mojica. All-around Jeff Roberson will also be crucial to the team as will Isaiah Whitehead, Benjamin Shungu, Jhonathan Dunn and Justin Johnson. There are a lot of question marks for Ludwigsburg, and it might take a while to see exactly how Josh King will lead this team.
Ulm hand reins of young, talented team to Gavel
Anton Gavel has seen his share of success in Germany and now he will be responsible for the highs - and lows - at ratiopharm ulm as new head coach and successor to Jaka Lakovic. The team Gavel takes over is even younger than past Ulm squads but still very talented, and it will be up to the 37-year-old to form a winner. The parts are there for success with a veteran like Tommy Klepeisz, former German league scoring champ Matt Mobley and versatile Karim Jallow. Ulm also brought in ultra-athletic Josh Hawley and Sagaba Konate. But there could be growing pains with the youngsters. Fedor Zugig will play his entire second season with Ulm as a 19-year-old while 23-year-old Brazilian international Yago dos Santos is playing outside his country for the first time. And Ulm also managed to bring in former Real Madrid point guard talent Juan Nunez, who this summer guided Spain to the title at the FIBA U20 European Championship, winning the MVP despite being 18 years old. Gavel has everything he needs to succeed right away but the biggest question mark is how the young players respond.
Chemnitz take revamped team to International debut
NINERS Chemnitz enter 2022-23 with some major question marks but also with major excitement as the club will be playing internationally for the first time - appearing in the FIBA Europe Cup, and even facing off against Brose Bamberg in the group stage. Chemnitz fans will have a different team to get used to. Gone are Jan Niklas Wimberg, Malte Ziegenhagen, Frantz Massenat, Isiaha Mike and Darion Atkins. Head coach Rodrigo Pastore may have a deeper roster to count on but it remains to be seen how strong it will be. Matt Mooney will be needed to help carry the team along with Nelson Weidemann and Arnas Velicka. Besides Weidemann, Mindaugas Susinskas and Jonas Richter are back and the team did add Dominic Lockhart, Marko Filipovity, Shonn Miller, Aher Uguak, Kevin Yabo and Kilian Binapfl. Pastore got a lot of clutch late game performances last season from Massenat and Atkins for some surprising wins. That duo and other leaders are gone. Who will step up and lead this new-look team?
What can be expected from new-look Towers?
Almost everything is new at Veolia Hamburg Towers - the name, the head coach and nearly the entire roster. But GM Marvin Willoughby still has the same expectations - getting the team back to the playoffs for a third straight year and taking another step forward. Head coach Pedro Calles left town for EWE Baskets Oldenburg and Willoughby replaced him with veteran playcaller Raoul Korner, who guided medi bayreuth for many years. The Austrian coach does have two strong returnees in German Lukas Meisner and Seth Hinrichs. Meisner will have a great chance to continue his development as he already played for Korner at Bayreuth. Hamburg brought in the MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg trio of James Woodard, Jonas Wohlfarth-Bottermann and Yoeli Childs while also picking up Christoph Philipps, who will be ready to prove himself in a new setting after growing up in the ratiopharm ulm system. Len Schoormann arrives after rising up the ranks at FRAPORT SKYLINERS and the team also has their own youngsters Leif Möller and Simonas Paukste. Woodard will be a major key for the team as will Marvin Clark, ALBA BERLIN loaned talent Ziga Samar and Kendale McCullum, who shined last season with JobStairs GIESSEN 46ers. Hamburg will once again have the extra burden of playing internationally in the 7DAYS EuroCup. The pieces are there for an exciting season but how quickly can Korner form a unit could decide how far this team can go.
Amiel has chance to shine with his new Bamberg team
Oren Amiel did the nearly unthinkable with Brose Bamberg last season, taking over a sputtering team and revving them up to speed to avoid the embarrassment of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2001. The Israeli head coach replaced Johan Roijakkers in November 2021 and finally gave the team the necessary spark to reach the post-season. Amiel’s contract was extended and now he has a chance to show why he was successful in leading the Czech superpower Nymburk to four league crowns and three cup titles in four seasons. Bamberg have been almost entirely revamped, with Christian Sengfelder and Patrick Heckmann being the two mainstays. Vaidas Kariniauskas will be one of the main playmakers while Amiel lured in former Nymburk wing and Czech international Jaromir Bohacik, and Justin Wright-Foreman is a true sniper from the outside. Amiel also used his knowledge of the Israeli league in bringing in Amir Bell and Gabriel Chachashvili. One other factor in Bamberg’s success could be how strong the remainder of the German rotation performs, especially Tyrese Blunt and Spencer Reaves. Without a doubt, the minimum goal for this team is extending their streak of making the playoffs.
Crailsheim ready to continue development after not taking step back
HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim enter 2022-23 ready to take another step forward in the club’s development, especially after not falling back in their development last season. After reaching the playoffs for the first time in 2020-21, head coach Tuomas Iisalo left the club for Telekom Baskets Bonn and was replaced by young German coach Sebastian Gleim. Offensive star talent Trae Bell-Haynes also left in 2021 and his spot was filled by TJ Shorts. And last season Crailsheim played internationally for the first time in club history, winning their group in the FIBA Europe Cup and advancing past the second group phase to reach the Quarter-Finals, where they lost to ZZ Leiden. Crailsheim also reached the Final of the MagentaSport German BBL Cup, where they lost to ALBA BERLIN. After all that success, Crailsheim is ready to take another step forward. Fresh off a contract extension until 2025, Gleim still has the German core of leaders Fabian Bleck, Maurice Stuckey and Bogdan Radosavljevic while adding Arunas Mikalauskas, Asbjörn Midtgaard, Otis Livingston, Edon Maxhuni and Myles Stephens - all players who excelled at lower level leagues and Crailsheim hope can make the jump to the German top flight. The Merlins hope they have worked more of their magic.
Versatile Göttingen thinking playoffs after late-season collapse
BG Göttingen may be the team most looking forward to the start of the 2022-23 season after losing their final six games to finish two games out of the playoffs. Head coach Roel Moors reformed his roster with a group of players who can play multiple positions and able to adapt to various opponents. Norway international Harald Frey and British league MVP Geno Crandall will share the playmaking duties while Mark Smith, Taze Moore and Rayshaun Hammonds give Moors a lot of options at both ends. Mathis Mönninghoff, Harper Kamp and Till Pape will be needed to produce as part of the German rotation, especially since Göttingen are hoping to qualify for the FIBA Europe Cup regular season. The club does face a major question mark off the court as the area surrounding the Sparkassen Arena is being searched for bombs remaining from World War II. Should any unexploded bombs be found, the arena could be temporarily closed and Göttingen would be forced to find another place to play their home games.
Post-Paulding era begins with major hopes in Spanish coach Calles
Rarely has a club gone through the emotional highs and lows of EWE Baskets Oldenburg this summer. Oldenburg faithful saw their legendary leader Rickey Paulding retire after 15 years, but they also have new found excitement with the arrival of Pedro Calles, a head coach who helped smaller clubs RASTA Vechta and Hamburg Towers to major success in the past four years. The Spanish playcaller will institute his tried and trusted system of physical play and lots of three-point shots, and Oldenburg have the roster of a playoffs team. DeWayne Russell and Owen Klassen both have played in the league before while MaCio Teague was part of Baylor’s NCAA championship team, and power forward Tanner Leissner helped Rytas Vilnius win their first Lithuanian title since 2010. Calles brought with him from Hamburg Max DiLeo while Kenneth Ogbe arrives from Brose Bamberg and joins a German unit which includes Bennet Hundt, Alen Panic and Norris Agbakoko. Not to be forgotten is returnee TJ Holyfield as Calles should have Oldenburg primed for a run in the playoffs.
Würzburg relying on smaller guards, solid German core
Würzburg Baskets go into the 2022-23 season without long-time name sponsor s.Oliver, but the club is excited about their perspectives. Management locked up head coach Sasa Filipovski until 2025 and gave him a roster that should find itself closer to the playoffs than the battle against relegation. Filipovski will be able to look eye-to-eye with three of his guards as O’Showen Williams stands 1.80 meters and Stanley Whittaker and Dre Marin are both 1.83 meters tall. Williams played the last two seasons in Great Britain and Filipovski’s native Slovenia, while Whittaker led the German ProA in scoring at Karlsruhe and Marin arrives as a professional rookie. Also is the backcourt is returnee Cameron Hunt while C.J. Bryce averaged 20.6 points last season in Hungary. Martin Peterka and Xeyrius Williams will also be a major part of the team’s chances. The German core features the big man duo of Philipp Hartwich and Filip Stanic, though the latter will miss the start of the season injured. Collin Welp, the son of long-time German international Chris Welp, will begin his professional career after going to college in the United States and Felix Hoffmann will provide a solid contribution off the bench. All in all, Würzburg fans can feel happy about this team going into the season.
Can youngsters’ improvement get Braunschweig into playoffs?
Basketball Löwen Braunschweig have only reached the playoffs once since 2012 - a first round exit in 2018-19 as the eighth seed - but Dennis Schröder’s club has the pieces in place to fight for the post-season. Braunschweig lost seven of their last nine games to finish at 12-21, but they also lost leader Robin Amaize in late December with a serious injury. The team captain is back to full health and once again will lead the young German core with Benedikt Turudic and David Kramer, the latter who will have extra motivation after missing out on the German national team as one of the final cuts. Braunschweig have all their young German talents back - the twins Brandon and Nicholas Tischler, Luc van Slooten and Sananda Fru while they also have youngsters Jamil Hyangho, Gian Aydinoglu, Jannik Göttsche and Mertcan Gerhardt who can work themselves into minutes. Braunschweig only have three import players, and two of them will be a huge help to the youngsters. Braydon Hobbs has seen and done it all at 33 years old while Ondrej Sehnal is a Czech international point guard who played last summer at the Tokyo Olympics and arrives from playing at FIBA EuroBasket 2022. The third import is Jilson Bango, an athletic 23-year-old Angolan international center who will be making his debut outside his homeland. The potential for this team is enormous if the youngsters can take the next step.
Bayreuth taking on new identity, giving chance to youngsters
One look at medi bayreuth’s roster and two major names are missing as neither head coach Raoul Korner nor veteran center Andreas Seiferth were renewed. The new playcaller will be Lars Masell, who served as Korner’s assistant from 2016 to 2021. Bayreuth does still have 33-year-old Bastian Doreth and 21-year-old Kay Bruhkne but no one else from the team that ended the season with 13 straight losses. With Masell comes a new identity and that is to give youngsters a chance - many of them from other clubs. The 20-year-old Sasha Grant came up in the FC Bayern Munich system, 22-year-old Nat Diallo arrives from ratiopharm ulm’s youth ranks, 24-year-old Osaro Rich from Hamburg Towers and 23-year-old Kresimir Nikic joins from ALBA BERLIN - not to mention 22-year-old Ignas Sargiunas from Prienai in Lithuania. Bayreuth also added the Canadian duo of Kalif Young and Jackson Rowe along with Americans Ahmed Hill and Brandon Childress. The 1.83 meter point guard Childress could be the key to the season as one of the quickest players in the league. If Masell can get the most out of the talented young arrivals then Bayreuth could quickly move away from any relegation threat and work towards fighting for a playoffs spot.
Heidelberg only thinking avoid relegation in Iisalo’s first year
MLP Academics Heidelberg made big headlines this spring when they announced that Branislav Ignjatovic would no longer be their coach after eight years and they decided to sign 36-year-old Joonas Iisalo as new head coach. Iisalo arrived after serving as assistant coach to his brother Tuomas Iisalo, and Heidelberg hope the Finnish playcaller can have a similar impact as his brother. The club’s number one goal for the season is to avoid relegation and play a third year in the German top flight. One of the biggest keys for that is Shyron Ely having another strong campaign in his sixth season with the team. Heidelberg did a good job in strengthening their German core with the additions of Akeem Vargas and Lukas Herzog to go along with Max Ugrai, Niklas Würzner and Leon Friederici. Iisalo also added Elias Lasisi and Tim Coleman, whom he coached at HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim while Eric Washington played for NINERS Chemnitz last season. The team will also need strong season from the American big man duo of De’Jon Davis and Bryan Griffin.
SYNTAINICS MBC hope continuity can lead to more wins
SYNTAINICS MBC start the 2022-23 season as every campaign in the easyCredit BBL - to stave off relegation as the number one goal. This season, the team from Weissenfels hopes to grab as many wins as possible and finish among the 12th to 14th spots in the final standings. Management was able to keep a good core of last year’s team together: Kostja Mushidi, John Bryant, Sergio Kerusch, Radii Caisin, Evans Rapieque and Hendrik Warner. The team was strengthened with some major additions including 41-year-old veteran Tremmell Darden, German big man Martin Breunig, guards Lamont Jones and Kris Clyburn and Slovakian point guard Mario Ihring. This will be SYNTAINICS MBC’s sixth straight season in the league and none of the previous five campaigns were they able to finish above 15th place - with at least nine wins in four of the five seasons. Fans would love if the team could come close to its 2013-14 season when they finished 16-18 in ninth place and nearly made the playoffs. But again, the number one goal is to stay in the league.
Rostock counting on continuity in debut season
ROSTOCK SEAWOLVES are the latest team to make their debut in the easyCredit BBL as the club from northern Germany is ready to take the next step in a fairytale ride. Rostock needed just eight years to jump from the fourth division 1st Regionalliga to Germany’s top flight. And the club understands they are top favorites to be relegated at season’s end. But management hopes continuity can help them survive as they bring back eight players from last season’s team: Chris Carter, Tyler Nelson, Jordan Roland, Nijal Pearson, Sid-Marlon Theis, Stefan Ilzhofer, Till Groger and Gabriel de Oliveira. Head coach Christian Held is also back, as is his father Ralph Held, who has served on coaching staffs for many years in the easyCredit BBL, including EWE Baskets Oldenburg. The Helds were also able to inject their roster with some strong additions. Derrick Alston Jr. and Selom Mawugbe both come from the NBA G-League for their first taste of European basketball while JeQuan Lewis is an all-around leader at just 1.85 meters and Dennis Nawrocki played last season in the first division with JobStairs GIESSEN 46ers. Whether that is enough come the end of the season to stay in the league remains to be seen.
Frankfurt cannot afford too many setbacks after wild card
FRAPORT SKYLINERS head into the 2022-23 season knowing they put themselves behind the eight ball last season by being relegated only surviving and staying in the easyCredit BBL thanks to a wild card - and the 700,000 euro price tag that went along with that. New head coach Geert Hammink gives the club hopes that they can play more for a playoffs spot than fight for the relegation. But the financial burden of the wild card will most likely limit Frankfurt from being able to make too many additions if injuries hit the team. Frankfurt still have their absolute leader in Quantez Robertson, playing his 14th season with the club and turning 38 in December. There are others who can carry the load as Matt Haarms will undoubtedly improve in his second professional season and the team brought in JJ Frazier and the Lithuanian duo of Laurynas Beliauskas and Einaras Tubutis. Hammink would gladly see Germans Lukas Wank and Lorenz Brenneke both take another step forward in their second seasons with the team, and Frankfurt hope a change of scenery will help Joshua Obiesie finally live up to his potential. Hammink knows it will not be easy but the Dutch coach has had success in the past and he will high expectations for himself and the club.
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